22 Nov How Do I Get a Copy of My Credit Report? The Federal Trade Commission’s Recommendation

Many persons will order their credit report before filing for bankruptcy, to ensure that all their creditors are listed properly. Ordering a credit report reduces the chance of leaving collection accounts off the bankruptcy papers, or even forgetting about a creditor altogether. However, you might wonder just where to go to obtain your credit report.

The best idea is to follow the advice of the Federal Trade Commission, and obtain your credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com, the official website established for this purpose. The FTC explains on its website, www.ftc.gov, that consumers are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. The FTC recommends that you contact these three credit reporting agencies by accessing the AnnualCreditReport.com website directly, to avoid being misdirected by your web browser to an “imposter” credit report website. An imposter website will attempt to charge a fee (or worse, a recurring fee) for providing a credit report. To avoid landing on an imposter website, manually type www.annualcreditreport.com into your web browser, which will take you to the authorized free credit report website.

Craig W. Andresen is a consumer bankruptcy lawyer in Bloomington, Minnesota, with 22 yearsâ€™ experience in consumer and small business bankruptcy cases. He is the Minnesota chair of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, and is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Associationâ€™s Bankruptcy Section. Mr. Andresen lectures often on the topic of consumer bankruptcy at local and national legal seminars.